Sherrone Moore discusses mishaps against Oregon, injury updates, more in pre-Indiana press conference

#Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore spoke with the media to recap the loss to Oregon, discuss the mishaps in the game, and speak on the future of the season with injuries ailing a few starters. Here is everything he said:

Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore spoke with the media on Monday to recap the loss to the Oregon Ducks and speak on the future of the season with injuries ailing a few starters.

Here are Moore’s key points from the weekly press conference.

• Moore started by discussing getting better on first down as a team: “Yeah, you got to be better on first down. You got to get more positive gains on first down. So I know (Davis Warren) took a lot of grief for himself but I thought he played pretty well and made some plays for us and did some things. Out-of-pocket plays, touchdown both times. So he took a lot of the blame, but as a team, we got to be better on first down.”
• Moore called the Oregon game a tale of two halves: “You saw the first half, just didn’t feel like there was enough energy and excitement. Thought the team was prepared and mentally ready to play, but just didn’t execute. But the second half felt like we came out — but what you saw was a test of what the culture is. Guys never quit. Our players kept fighting all the way to the end and had many chances to make it a one-score game. Had a possible pick. I thought it was a great call by Wink with the alignment and movement — almost created a pick, and then had a chance to get down in the red zone and score a touchdown.”
• The Wolverines had some costly penalties that led to the game getting out of reach: “The one penalty with the special teams, we got clean that up. And then really, there was only one substitution deal, which hadn’t really happened all year with any tempo deal. So that was the one that we definitely have to take care of.”
• Michigan was without its top two cornerbacks against the Ducks in Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill, and both are most likely questionable against Indiana: “Both working through it, pushing. Seems like Jyaire is working. He’s trending on possibly playing, but we’ll see. And then we’ll see with Will how he goes this week.”
• There have been some changes internally that Moore discussed on Monday: “We’ve changed different practice things and schedules of how we progress through practice. I mean, as you go through the year, you get more banged up and do different things that you’ve got to adjust (to) the players. So we know we’ll keep adjusting, making the best game plans available to go win.”
• The Wolverines were on the losing end of a few replay calls, and the media asked Moore if the team had anyone in the replay booth to monitor these calls: “I think we’re all looking at every play, and the review, the angles that were shown for us to see weren’t showing at the time, so we didn’t see the drop. But I think it’s knowledge that all the plays should be reviewed. So that’s something that obviously you saw the TV copy of the ball went right through the guy’s hands and hit the ground, so should have been reviewed, but we’ll leave it at that. We have guys in the box. Everybody watches every play and every film, so I think that’s a collective effort of everybody always watching that. So whether that angle is in the box, we didn’t see it initially, whatever it is, but it was obviously seen on the TV copy.”
• Moore promoted Kirk Campbell to call plays and develop the quarterbacks that are succeeding J.J. McCarthy. With the offense stagnant, there have been questions about Campbell’s ability to be the offensive coordinator: “I think for us, it’s got to be a collective effort on how we do this and how we formulate the offense. So got to just be better as a whole group. It’s not just him, it’s got to be everybody. Everybody’s got to be a team, and we got to do everything together. So we’ll figure out what’s the best way for us to continue to move the football and be successful. It’s just not the calls and all those things. Those are conversations we have internally.”
• Michigan’s fans are passionate about winning, and it has been a struggle to stay positive. Moore gave a message to the fans, telling them, “We’re just going to keep fighting. We can’t worry about outside noise, praise or criticism. For us in this building, for these players, like I said before, they’re the most disappointed people in the world right now. So my job is to make sure that they’re in a good head space, make sure that’s it, they’re taken care of, and we can continue to push forward in a positive way and continue to try to win.”
• There has been a lot of noise on the recruiting trail with four-star quarterback Carter Smith decommitting from the program. Rumors have also been spreading about the possibility of five-star Bryce Underwood flipping from LSU to Michigan. When asked about a quarterback in the 2025 class, Moore said, “We’ll be fine.”

• Finally, Moore highlighted some of the injuries along the offensive line, stating the unfortunate news that starting right tackle Andrew Gentry is out for the season, and backup left tackle Jeff Persi is dealing with a “low body extremity thing,” but that he is expected to be okay.